We often take for granted the intersection of visual communication and public health advocacy. When I worked in sexual health advocacy, for example, zines and comic books as advocacy tools were devalued as cute but ultimately insignificant efforts, more arts than prevention science.

During the coronavirus crisis, however, the importance of visual health communication has shown itself in the overabundance of visual information circulating on the internet and in the scarce places we may visit. Stores have X’s on the ground to indicate where we should stand to practice social distancing; workplaces and dorms are posting signs on basic hygiene practices. The UN is even calling for informative art posters during this global pandemic.

Not every message is created equally, however.

In this post, introductions to visual rhetoric and graphic medicine will found a short showcase of visual health communication efforts during COVID-19.

What is Visual Rhetoric?

In the same way we can explore the calls to authority, structures, and emotional appeals of speeches and writing, we can also explore the visuals that surround us, from television shows and video games to print ads and paintings. Visual rhetoric refers to the strategies used to make visuals persuasive. Strategies that make visuals persuasive include use of color, artistic style, physical arrangement, and visual references.

Particularly because of references, visual rhetorical analysis involves sifting through visual euphemisms and coded meanings. In addition, because of the ubiquitous presence of visuals in our world, especially on the internet, recognizing that no image is neutral or meaningless is important in building an awareness to just how much information we are bombarded with, especially now during this crisis.

That’s Sick: Medical Rhetoric and Graphic Medicine

Medical rhetoric then, aka the rhetoric of health and medicine, regards the creation and delivery of health messages. Medical rhetoric can range from analyzing patient-provider interactions to assessing public health communication and advocacy, including ads and health campaigns.

One field I became aware of during my sexual health advocacy days is graphic medicine. Ian Williams, the founder of the Graphic Medicine blog and resource site claims he chose the phrase to make space for writing about “the role that comics can play in the study and delivery of healthcare.”

Unlike traditional patient-provider communication, graphic medicine is far more related to the humanities than the social sciences. Williams recognizes that

[s]tories of illness that are written down or drawn by skilled, articulate authors, published by a commercial company and bought by enough people to warrant reprinting, are a highly selected marginal subgroup of the total that are “out there,” passed on by word of mouth, unwritten. Many of these “other” stories will be incoherent, too painful to relate, too distressing to hear, and so utterly bleak, miserable or banal that no commercial press is ever likely to publish them.

As medical rhetoric, graphic medicine represents the health messages patients can’t structure and deliver for their providers; as visual rhetoric, graphic medicine is the persuasive presentation of pain, current–or forthcoming.

The Art of COVID-19 Health Communication

The visual health messages during this pandemic have come in many forms. For the sake of this post, we’ll only focus on static images.

These images incorporate many of the coded images that now pervade visual culture. Take this panel from Toby Morris’s “The Side Eye: Viruses vs Everyone” from late March:

The various visuals of this image engage in the medical rhetoric of Morris’s overall webcomic. The spiky balls of COVID-19’s virus form, the model of transmission, the virus-splotched hands, and the haggard appearance of the character (unshaven, wide eyes, under-eye bags) represent not only what we see on the daily but in one panel amplify how exhausting these constant images has become. Watchdogging the virus is a proven need in our society and exhausting us.

We are also seeing an increase in callouts to social duty through public health messaging. Alongside Trump declaring a “war” against COVID-19, visual health communication efforts have adopted using visual references to wartime America, appealing to national pride and epic heroism with the visual markers of this new “war.”

Some of the most persuasive visuals of the crisis lean less into the artistry of comics but instead appeal to the fundamentals of slogans and visual design. As Suzanne Pope demonstrates, some of the new terms that have come out of the crisis, such as “social distancing,” are conceptual and don’t provide as specific a guideline as “stay at home” and “shop once a week,” which are both visual examples.

Her example is also meta, using a clear red-negative and green-positive graphic to provide clear health messages.

Conclusion: Looking For Info

As the crisis continues, the ways chosen to present messages will be imperative to effective health communication. Visual rhetoric has strategies that can amplify medical rhetoric that need to be kept in mind as long as visuals are the main way COVID-19 information is being presented to the public.